A violent sexual predator is set to be released and could be making his home in Los Angeles County.
The proposal to house the man once known as the “Pillowcase Rapist” in the Antelope Valley town of Juniper Hills has brought calls from Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger and Dist. Atty. George Gascón for residents to voice their concerns.
Local officials were notified Tuesday that the Antelope Valley had once again been selected as home for Christopher Evans Hubbart, who targeted young women in their homes across the San Gabriel Valley in 1972 and years later resumed raping in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Gascón, who opposed Hubbart’s release, said attorneys in his office would seek to block his placement in the Antelope Valley. The decision now rests with the Los Angeles Superior Court, which has scheduled a hearing for Oct. 1.
“Continuing to release sexually violent predators into underserved communities like the Antelope Valley is both irresponsible and unjust,” Gascón said in a statement. “We must demand more from our judicial system, ensuring decisions serve the best interests of our communities while exploring alternative locations for these placements.”
Barger issued a statement late Wednesday opposing the plan.
“We cannot allow our rural communities in the Antelope Valley to be magnets for housing sexually violent predators,” Barger said. “That’s simply unacceptable.”
She cited spotty cellphone coverage, inconsistent internet service, interruptions to telephone landlines, and long wait times for law enforcement response as a “clear recipe for failure.”
A representative from Gascón’s office was scheduled to attend a meeting of the Juniper Hills town council Wednesday to explain the sexually violent predator conditional release program.
Hubbart, who became known as the “Pillowcase Rapist” for his habit of covering his victims heads with pillowcases, was indicted in Los Angeles on charges of rape, sodomy and attempted rape, accused of breaking into the homes of 10 women. He pleaded guilty to some of the charges and was sent to a state hospital as a mentally disordered sex offender.
After his release in 1979, Hubbart moved to the Bay Area and began attacking again. Two years later, he was arrested and later convicted of rape, burglary and other crimes. He spent nearly eight years behind bars. In all, court documents show, Hubbart admitted to at least 44 sexual assaults over 18 years.
Prior to his release, the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office asked a court to have him committed to a state mental hospital under the Sexually Violent Predator Act. The law allows violent sex offenders to be confined to hospitals if they are considered likely to offend again. Hubbart was committed to the Department of State Hospitals in 2000, Gascón’s statement said.
In 2014, then-Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey opposed his initial placement in the Antelope Valley. After briefly living near Palmdale, Hubbart was returned to Coalinga State Hospital for failing to meet the terms of his release.
In March 2023, the Santa Clara County Superior Court granted his conditional release and determined that he should be placed in Los Angeles County.
The California Department of State Hospitals notified the Los Angeles County sheriff Tuesday that it had recommended that he be placed in Juniper Hills, a community near Pearblossom in the southern part of the Antelope Valley.
The placement hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in Department 113 at the Hollywood Courthouse. Members of the public can attend remotely using this link.
